Raffique Shah

Raffique Shah is a columnist for over three decades, founder of the T&T International Marathon, co-founder of the ULF with Basdeo Panday and George Weekes, a former sugar cane farmers union leader and an ex-Siparia MP.
He trained at the UK’s Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and was arrested, court-martialled, sentenced and eventually freed on appeal after leading 300 troops in a mutiny at Teteron Barracks during the Black Power revolution of 1970.

By the time I was ready to turn in on Sunday night, my pulse rate was back to normal. And, like the Buddha you encounter at the entrances to many Thai restaurants, I wore a silly grin, like a man whose appetite was sated. No, I did not overeat: I …

I had no idea that Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley might have been seriously ill when I slammed into him last week for failing to take full charge of his responsibilities to the country. Upon reading that Dr Rowley might have an ailment which requires him to have a series of medical …

I don’t know what plans he has for his vacation, but I strongly recommend to Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley that he spend all of it in solitary self-confinement seeking guidance from whatever deity or deities he believes in regarding his leadership capabilities. I don’t care whether it’s an ashram, …

Part 1 of this column by Raffique Shah was published on Wired868 on Wednesday 20 July. Trinidad and Tobago, as a very inefficient producer of sugar, relying heavily on preferential prices for the commodity from Britain, and later the European Union, should have scaled back sugar production from the 1970s when …

The only thing necessary for myths and mischief to be recorded as historical facts is for informed persons to say nothing. I liberally paraphrase Irish philosopher Edmund Burke’s injunction to responsible persons to speak out or act when tyranny threatens, to respond to one lie Sat Maharaj peddled when he …

The bickering among Islamic organisations over the allocation and distribution of Government funding for the recent Eid celebrations underscores a point I’ve made ever since this nonsense started a few years ago: Government ought never to dispense public funds for religious festivals. A few weeks before Eid, in the midst …

The end, when it came, brought relief from some five years of suffering, and pre-empted additional torture from treatment for cancer, which many have described as being worse than the disease itself. Patrick Manning’s sister, Petronella, who is a medical doctor, said as much in her grief-stricken state. And his …

The referendum was never about Britain getting a raw deal in the European Union and wanting out so that it can prosper on its own. It wasn’t even about voting to stop the hordes of barbarian refugees at the gates of the castle, given its natural moats, the Channel, the …

Within recent years, annual Labour Day celebrations trigger accusations that the trade unions that mark the occasion with marches and speeches at Fyzabad pay homage only to Tubal Uriah Butler, never Adrian Cola Rienzi. Such sentiments imply that Rienzi, whose original name was Krishna Deonarine, is ignored by labour because …

Fathers like mine—ordinary men who are barely literate in most instances and worked hard to provide for their families—are remembered only by their immediate families and maybe some friends and people in the communities in which they lived and died. In a society where success is measured by materialism or …

It would be asking too much of our politicians that they show some humility in their public lives. In fact, it will be true to say that, with precious few exceptions, politicians across the world are egotistical and arrogant—character traits that distinguish them from most ordinary human beings. Lest I …

In death, as in life, he straddled the world like a colossus. All the major international news networks suspended regular programming to pay homage to Muhammad Ali, the greatest boxer ever, the supreme sporting figure of the 20th Century, the defiant one who sacrificed a successful career on the altar …

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2 weeks agoby wired868Champion, champion... Naparima College celebrate with the National Intercol trophy after their 4-3 penalty shootout triumph over San Juan North Secondary at the Ato Boldon Stadium in Couva. Photo: Allan V Crane/CA-Images/Wired868

3 weeks agoby wired868Mannie on the charge... St Anthony’s College attacker Kiron Manswell (right) runs at Carapichaima East Secondary full back Emmanuel Correira during National Intercol quarterfinal action at the Ato Boldon Stadium on 27 November 2018. Photo: Kerlon Orr/CA-Images/Wired868

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2 weeks agoby wired868Not here hoss! Naparima College goalkeeper and captain Levi Fernandez makes a point after a penalty save against San Juan North Secondary during the National Intercol final at the Ato Boldon Stadium on 4 December 2018. Photo: Allan V Crane/CA-Images/Wired868